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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query SBQ. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query SBQ. Sort by date Show all posts

SBQ’s bounty keeps Daddy Leo going

Posted on 11 March 2017 No comments
Leo Selomenio
By Daisy CL Mandap

Just a few years back, Leo Selomenio could only gaze from afar while singer Aiza Seguerra performed onstage. Now, they exchange text messages, and Aiza even promised to come to Hong Kong and perform at one of Selomenio’s events this June.

And it’s all because of “Sunday Beauty Queen” or SBQ.

Selomenio, a popular community leader known to many as “Daddy Leo”, is one of the Hong Kong OFWs whose heart-rending life stories were featured in SBQ, a highly acclaimed documentary which won as Best Picture in last December’s Manila Film Festival.

While she may not have made money from the movie, not even a small “TF” or talent fee, Selomenio said she is grateful enough that many doors have opened for her because of it.

Apart from becoming text mates with Aiza, Bela Padilla, Anne Curtis, Iza Calzado and other movie stars who sought her out after seeing the movie, Selomenio has also been offered support for her advocacies by big companies and private individuals.

The biggest offer has come from a generous Filipino couple, Juancho Robles and Pinky Therese Pe Tobiano, who have pledged to support events organized by Selomenio for the next two years through their OFW online advocacy group, Pinas.com.

The couple reportedly came to Hong Kong to seek Selomenio out, and brought lavish gifts for her and her live-in partner. As the Robles couple plans to embark on a goods delivery service in the Philippines for OFWs as part of their Pinas.com project, they also sent complimentary gift boxes to the families of Selomenio and her partner, each filled with goods worth Php8,000.

“Sobrang generous nila,” said Selomenio, who added that Robles also gave her a lai see packet with $2,000 in it, while Tobiano gifted her partner with an “expensive” pair of pearl earrings.
The generous socialite has even offered to lend her gowns made by top Filipino couturiers Cary Santiago and Francis Libiran to the 30 candidates in the June 4 beauty pageant that Leo’s group, Global Alliance, is organizing.

A total of 25 gowns have already been pledged for delivery to Hong Kong in May, and Tobiano has reportedly said she’d have five more made so all the contestants would have something to wear.
“Pati costumes ng mga beauty contestants ay libre na, so wala na silang gagastusin,” Selomenio said.
On top of this, the Robles couple has also undertaken to pay for the cost of mounting the show, and provide the prizes for the winners.

Another generous donor is Michael Kors – Hong Kong, whose marketing manager, Henry Tang, asked Selomenio to present her planned activities for the year. Tang was reportedly so impressed that he offered sponsorships throughout the year, with part of the money to be given in kind, meaning through gifts of its iconic handbags.

Another big sponsor is Camella Homes, owned by the richest Philippine lawmakers on record, Senator Cynthia Villar and her husband, former Senate President Manny Villar.

Many other similar offers are in the pipeline, which means Selomenio would be busy organizing events for the next two years.

Despite the bounty that has virtually fallen on her lap, Selomenio cannot help but gripe at how she and her fellow OFWs featured in SBQ appear to have been left out of the financial rewards being reaped by producers of the film.

“Ang akala kasi ng iba, ang dami-dami ko nang pera dahil sa pelikula,” she said.

In fact, according to her, the $5,000 plus that she and fellow OFW Hazel Perdido each paid for their plane tickets to Manila for the MFF awards night have yet to be reimbursed. And while she got to keep the Piandre suit she wore to the event, the gowns worn by Hazel and Mylyn Jacobo, the two other OFWs who went with her, had to be returned.

She also said that her appeal to screen SBQ in Hong Kong for a charity event on Mar 26 went unheeded, until she signified an interest to pay the standard US$500 fee per screening charged by the producers.

Luckily for her, a professor who got to watch SBQ in its initial screening in Hong Kong at Asia Society was so moved by the domestic workers’ plight that she offered to book a theater at Hong Kong University for free for Selomenio’s group.

With this, and the sponsorships from various sources, Selomenio is confident she will raise enough for her group’s regular beneficiary, the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, and to scholarships for children of the Itneg and Mangyan tribes back home.

Money matters aside, Selomenio is also unhappy that SBQ showed the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong in a rather unfavorable light.

In one scene in the movie, Selomenio is shown telling Bethune’s Edwina Antonio, “Bakit ang hirap lumapit sa Konsulado kapag may problema?”

In another, Selomenio can be seen talking about having made to clean the Consulate’s air conditioners. She says this is a joke she and her friends regularly throw about, but in the movie, it sounded like a complaint.

“Ayaw kong magbigay ng public comment (about it) kaya bumabawi na lang ako sa mga newspaper interview. Kasi ang lumalabas, parang ang sama-sama nila (PCG),” said Selomenio.

It is to the credit of the Consulate officers that they are still supportive of her despite the unfair image given them by the film, she added.

But having vented, she is sanguine enough to accept that SBQ has raised the level of public awareness about what OFWs like her have to put up with just to improve the lives of their families back home.

Even employers seem to have taken notice, and taken heart.

Selomenio said that she was apprehensive when her own employer was about to watch SBQ, as it showed her and her partner living together in a boarding house. Up until then, the employer knew them only as close friends.

Her employer did not say anything after the movie. But the next day, just when Selomenio was about to leave her home, the employer handed her “baon” which was obviously for two people. The employer simply said, “this is for you and your honey”.

That was the time Selomenio realized SBQ’s full impact, and how it has tapped into the audience’s innate goodness to create a better understanding of the plight of Filipino migrant workers.

Tears behind the dazzle of Sunday Beauty Queen

Posted on 24 February 2017 No comments
 Sitting for Q and A during the premiere of the Sunday Beauty Queen are , from left:, Rudelie Acosta, cast; Leo Selomenio, cast, Baby Ruth Villarama, director; Hazel Perdido, cast; Micheal Wong, co-producer; and Liza Dino Seguerra, Film Development Council of the Philippines chairperson. CBC


By Cris B. Cayat

The screening of the independent documentary film Sunday Beauty Queen at Asia Society on Feb 7 was awash with tears, as men and women alike unabashedly shed tears as the movie ran its course.
The movie, which won the Best Picture award at the Manila Film Festival last December, centers around Filipinas who escape the drudgery of working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong by joining beauty contests.

But Sunday Beauty Queen is as much about living on borrowed glamor, as it is about the difficulty and loneliness of working abroad to fend for families back home.

Vice Consul Robert Quintin set the tone for the rest of the evening when he said in a speech before the film started that everyone should step back and rethink how to deal with the lure of beauty contests to overseas Filipino workers.

“I hope that after the film, after the glitter, after the crown came down their heads, they know that they are mothers, sisters, daughters here to provide livelihoods for their families back home,” Quintin said.

He also challenged those in academe to look more closely into the phenomenon.

“To those in the academe, this topic is worth studying. Try to explain why this is happening,” Quintin said, noting that beauty contests are rooted from where the workers came from, and are not about to go away anytime soon.

After the screening, the movie’s cast which included several OFWs in Hong Kong, joined a Q&A with those who were in the audience.

One of them, Rudelie Perdido, said joining pageants was her escape from her daily work grind. Though the pictures she posts on Facebook, she also tries to assure her children back in the Philippines that she is doing fine.

“Gusto kong makita ng mga anak ko na masaya ako,” she said, with tears in her eyes.
But at the same time, she said she hopes the movie would help open the minds of OFW families back home that a domestic worker’s life in Hong Kong is not easy.

Also in the audience were several local Chinese people, one of whom asked if there was a version of the film with Cantonese subtitles.

Chinese co-producer Michael Wong said there was. Wong was said to have been instrumental in convincing the employers of the OFW cast members to participate in the film and open their homes for filming.

Another OFW cast member, Leo Selomenio, said she organized beauty pageants to raise money for charity. She admitted that candidates were asked to sell tickets, but added that after the movie’s success, she may no longer have to do this as several business establishments in Hong Kong have expressed interest in sponsoring her beauty pageants.

SBQ’s director Baby Ruth Villarama said former Consuls Joy Banagodos and Charles Macaspac were the ones who got her interested in delving into the phenomenon way back in 2011.

Villarama said the movie was filmed over four years, and that she was not confident at first about completing it because of the unstable work situation of the main cast members who are all OFWs: Selomenio, Acosta, Mylyn Jacobo, Cherry Bretania and Hazel Perdido.

But in the end, the film was not only finished, but also went on to win top honors, bringing accolades to its maker and renewed interest on the Sunday beauty queen phenomenon among OFWs.
SBQ is just one of several independent films being shown at Asia Society this February.

The others are Entre Medio del Fin, Sakaling Hindi Makarating, Imbisibol, and Curiosity, Adventure and Love.

‘Sunday Beauty Queen’ is MMFF Best Picture

Posted on 01 January 2017 No comments
By Daisy CL Mandap
Hong Kong workers Mylyn Jacobo, Global Alliance chair
Leo Selomenio and Hazel Perdido  pose with Babyruth
Villarama (in blue) and actor John Lloyd Cruz (back) at the MMFF rites.


A documentary about the life and struggles of overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong has won the two top prizes at this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

“Sunday Beauty Queen”, which was directed by Babyruth Villarama and took all of four years to make, was adjudged as Best Picture and winner of the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award at the 2016 MIFF Gabi ng Parangal held on Dec. 29 at the Kia Theatre in Quezon City.

The film also made history for being the first documentary to have won the top prize in the annual festival.

It was sweet vindication for the film which was pulled out of several cinemas after just one day because of low patronage.

Villarama, who took breaks from finishing a degree in the United Kingdom so she could come to Hong Kong to film the documentary, said in a CNN Philippines interview that “Sunday Beauty Queen” was no escapist movie.

“Monday to Saturday, they don’t have a life, they’re like robots,” she said of OFWs in Hong Kong. But on Sunday, they transform. This is how they want to live. These are dignified people. They need to have something for themselves,” Villarama said in the interview.

Villarama was accompanied on stage to accept the award by the three OFWs who were featured in the film: Global Alliance chair Leo Selomenio, who is a veteran organizer of beauty pageants in Hong Kong, and perennial contestants Hazel Perdido and Mylyn Jacobo.

Asked for a reaction on the big win, Selomenio told The SUN in a private message that being on stage for the MIFF awards night was an experience beyond expectation.

“The feeling is overwhelming and I am so overjoyed. This film is an eye opener for everyone na ang pag-organize ng event dapat may kabuluhan. I am so proud to be a part of this film and proud to be a leader. All (our) efforts and sacrifices paid off.”

Of the three, Perdido is the only one who will no longer go back to Hong Kong as she has gone back to her hometown of General Santos City for good.

Before the awards night, they were all given a real pre-pageant treat by going for a fitting session with local couturier Martin Bautista who provided their outfits for the awards night for free.
After the big win, they all got another treat when they joined the filmmakers for a big celebration that Selomenio said lasted until 5 in the morning.

Returning to Hong Kong, Selomenio will try to achieve another dream, by helping bring the SBQ to local cinemas so those whose lives are so eloquently told in the documentary could also watch it on the big screen.

Before leaving for Manila, Selomenio discussed the plan with The SUN, saying Villarama was already eyeing commercial cinemas for the film’s Hong Kong run.

Consul General Bernardita Catalla who was later on looped in on the plan said she was open to the idea, but added it would be better if the movie won an award so it would be easier to convince the Hong Kong government to help provide a venue.

SBQ’s big win could very well indicate it is, indeed, coming to Hong Kong soon.

Here is the full list of winners of the MMFF 2016:
Best Picture: Sunday Beauty Queen
Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award: Sunday Beauty Queen
Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award: Oro
Best Director: Erik Matti, Seklusyon
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Paolo Ballesteros, Die Beautiful
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Irma Adlawan, Oro
Best Ensemble Cast: Oro
Special Jury Prize: Rhed Bustamante, Seklusyon
Best Screenplay: Seklusyon
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bables, Die Beautiful
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Phoebe Walker, Seklusyon
Best Cinematography: Seklusyon
Best Sound Design: Seklusyon
Best Theme Song: ”Dominus Miserere” Seklusyon
Best Editing: Sunday Beauty Queen
Best Musical Score: Saving Sally
Best Production Design: Seklusyon
Best Float: Die Beautiful
42nd MMFF My Most Favorite Film: Die Beautiful
Children’s Choice Award: Saving Sally, Sunday Beauty Queen, Vince & Kath & James
Male Celebrity of the Night: Ronnie Alonte
Female Celebrity of the Night: Rhian Ramos
Short Film – Best Screenplay: Mitatang
Short Film – Special Jury Prize: Manila Scream
Short Film – Best Picture: EJK
Short Film – Best Work for Children: Passage of Life
Best Short Film Director: Jarell Serencio for Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad

Letter from SBQ’s director

Posted on 08 April 2017 No comments
I am Baby Ruth Villarama, the director and co-creator of the film Sunday Beauty Queen. Some Overseas Filipino Workers, our Sunday Beauty Queens themselves, and concerned readers of SUN HK requested I reach out to you to clear some inconsistencies in an article published at SUN HK recently.

Below is the link to the article:
http://www.sunwebhk.com/2017/03/sbqs-bounty-keeps-daddy-leo-going.html

As a documentary journalist, the following points are very important to clarify:

The airfare of Leo Selomenio and Hazel Perdido has been reimbursed in full. They were originally coming home for Christmas with or without the film. We made the offer to reimburse their airfare and they were thankful for the gesture. Our sincerest apology if it took a little over two months to reimburse it because the producers have not received the returns from the cinema but it was reimbursed already.

We personally paid for Daddy Leo’s suit with the support of another producer. Of course the gowns had to be returned as we cannot afford to buy them. Those were made by designers who dress celebrities in the Philippines. They volunteered to dress the Sunday Beauty Queens, which we are grateful.

The screening of Sunday Beauty Queen in HK is a personal request from Daddy Leo as he wants to organise one. No one forced him to mount it as resonated in the article. There is a standard license fee in every big screening that needs to be respected as the film needs to be prepared and shipped off. All ticket sales go to the association that organised it, and we believe Daddy Leo mounted it for the benefit of Bethune House and the recent earthquake victims in Surigao.

We are happy for the blessings and support our Sunday Beauty Queens have been receiving post the screening of the film, and they very much deserved it for all their hard work and sacrifices. We share everyone’s wish that there could be more.

The risks and fees our producer swallowed to fight for the film so it can be screened at last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is something we don’t know if it can be achieved again. It’s the first time a documentary film ever made it the 42-year run of the MMFF. We want the Filipinos to see a story that can realise the value of our OFWs, more than to commercial gain from it. We hope writer  Daisy CL Mandap could have seen the bigger picture on why the film was made.

The independent producers are still recouping their four-year worth of production expenses as well as the expenses shelled out from its nationwide marketing to survive its 10-day limited theatrical release in the Philippines. The film was screened in an average of 20 cinemas. The film earned a gross of P10Million. The production expenses of the film was P4.5 Million over a span of four years, with P2Million spent on marketing and another P500k on distribution. To explain how it goes, the cinemas get a share of the box office revenue, while 30% goes to the Philippine government amusement tax. Only 20% returns to the producers and distributor of the film. We are happy that big studios have recouped already in last year’s MMFF and that their films were distributed in more than 150 cinemas. It is our wish for SBQ to screen as well in provinces around the Philippines so families and relatives of OFWs can watch it. Rest assured that we are working hard to help the producers recover soon. I personally cannot wait to reach a box-office statue so we can truly announce it and claim a Filipino documentary really made it!

The protection and welfare of my subjects are our prime priority as documentary filmmakers and to claim the SBQs were left out is not correct and this is something that hurt us deeply. It is not fair for Daddy Leo to be judged as the one who benefitted from it as he is also battling with so many responsibilities in the middle of trying to make a stand to uplift the Filipino community in HK.
We are happy that Daddy Leo is receiving enormous support for his next pageant and we wish his association all the best. We are happy that finally, the Philippine government is slowly giving close attention to address the needs of our migrant workers. There are still works to be done and we don’t discount any small efforts to champion our migrant warriors.

No one is being left out of any reward.

It is our hope for Filipinos to appreciate good documentaries and for the international audience to champion Filipinos to the world. The production team (Director, field producers & DOP) have also pitched in resources to make the journey of the film right.

We just hope the writer could have contacted us in the spirit for fair journalism. It is our regret that an article like this would put the producers and creators of Sunday Beauty Queen in a one-sided light. We are sure that is not what SUN HK represents. We wish there could be a chance for SUN HK and its writers to see the film.

I am whole heartedly requesting for the immediate ERRATUM of the story.

For your immediate attention,

Baby Ruth Villarama 
Film Director & Creator
Sunday Beauty Queen

 We are reprinting the letter of Ms. Baby Ruth Villarama in the interest of fair play. We interviewed Leo Selomenio as a follow-up to our previous articles on Sunday Beauty Queen which all put the movie and its makers in a positive light. All the information that we used in the subsequent feature story came from Leo, who is a longtime Filipino community leader in Hong Kong. As this letter itself attests, there was nothing factually wrong in that article. The air tickets of Leo and Hazel Perdido were paid after the article was published, and all rights for the movie’s screening in Hong Kong on March 26 were paid for by Leo, with support from her sponsors, in full. There is nothing to correct in the article.
Daisy CL Mandap
Editor, The SUN-HK

Miss you, The SUN

I miss you so much, The SUN… Ako iyong namumulot ng The SUN sa subway papuntang City Hall kasi paborito ko itong basahin, completos recados ang binabalita. Four months na ako ngayon sa Canada at bored dahil walang mabasa tulad ng The SUN. I miss you, The SUN.
Lucia P. Cornelia
Toronto, Canada

‘SBQ not about beauty contests’

Posted on 02 April 2017 No comments
By Daisy CL Mandap

VC Quintin
The movie, Sunday Beauty Queen, is not about beauty pageants, but about the plight of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong and how they cope with the struggles of working in a foreign land.
This was the message emphasized by Vice Consul Robert Quintin, when he spoke at the block screening of the award-winning movie at Hong Kong University on Mar. 27, organized by Global Alliance.

Quintin, who heads the Consulate’s cultural section, took pains to explain that while the movie is a must-see because of its realistic portrayal of migrant workers’ woes, it has to be seen in the proper perspective.

“It’s about the status of the Filipino overseas workers here – in fact, everywhere in the world. Dito natin nakikita how they cope with the challenges thrown their way,” said Quintin.

“This brings to light what we need to work on. Definitely, there’s still a lot that needs to be done on the policy side”.

That message, he said, needs to be communicated to the Hong Kong government so changes could be made to improve the lot of Filipino overseas workers.

In a separate interview at the Consulate, Consul General Bernardita Catalla was more forthright in saying she had no wish to see the docu-film because it did not address the bigger issue of how beauty contests leave many Filipino domestic workers deeply in debt.

She recounted how she expressed her reservations on this issue when the movie’s director, Babyruth Villarama, paid her a courtesy call before filming began.

“I told her (Villarama) that there are a lot of activities we support, like financial literary training, information seminars and others, but beauty contests are not among them”.

She never heard from the movie maker again, making her realize that there was a deliberate attempt to gloss over this issue.

Worse, she heard that the film took swipes at the Consulate for allegedly not doing anything to help Filipino workers.

“Siniraan kami,” Congen simply said.

In his speech, Vice Consul Quintin also stressed that beauty contests do not play a significant part in the lives of Filipino workers in Hong Kong, and do not have wide support within the community, “but that’s beside the point.”

He expressed hope that those who have seen the movie would do something to to help workers who are in need.

“After seeing this film I hope it will stir something in you so you can help us bring their issues to light,” said Quintin.

He particularly called on Filipino residents to do their part. “I hope you will not turn a blind eye to the needs of your fellow Filipinos.”

Quintin assured the audience that the Consulate is always ready to help migrant workers.
“Kalimutan na ninyo ang hotline, kausapin na lang ninyo ako,” he said, adding his Facebook messenger is always on for workers who might need his help.

The double screening was organized by Global Alliance, chaired by the film’s lead character, Leo Selomenio. It was co-hosted by the HKU’s Department of Sociology and the Women’s Studies Research Centre.

Major sponsor, Pinas.com, donated two iphones for the raffle draw, and brought along singer and co-owner Eric Santos, to entertain the crowd. Pinas.com, an online platform that provides a host of services for OFWs, is headed by Juancho Robles and wife, Pinky Pe Tobiano.

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